


An Ax (for you and me)

by Roroone



Category: One Piece
Genre: BAMF Women, Early Character Design Nami, Gen, Personal Growth, Prosthetic Arm, Roronoa Zoro is a Good Friend, axes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:09:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29880240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roroone/pseuds/Roroone
Summary: For Ryorsaem, whose prompt was 'original nami with axe and prosthetic'I originally had a lot more planned out but alas, I lack the strength to write long shots... Still, this was a really fun work to write! I hope you liked it.
Relationships: Bell-mère & Nami & Nojiko, Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates & Nami, Nami & Roronoa Zoro
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10
Collections: Sake Ceremony 2021





	An Ax (for you and me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ryorsaem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryorsaem/gifts).



“What's that you've got there, missy?” asked Haredas as he peered over her shoulder.

Nami irritably shrugged off his long beard as it brushed against her ear, distracting her. “Don't stick so close!”

Haredas hurriedly backed away from her, well acquainted with the navigator's temper after a few weeks of living together. “Now, now,” he placated, “just trying to satisfy an old man's curiosity. Don't get so mad.”

He shuffled around her and leaned down to look at the long stave in Nami's hands. Wooden shavings dropped on top of the old newspaper spread out on the floor as she carefully carved into one end of stick.

“It's the pole for my halberd,” she answered.

“Oho, that broken ax you brought with you? But, missy, I thought you were going to incorporate our weather technology with that metal stick of yours.”

Nami stopped and looked down at the partly carved pole in her hands. It was a simple length of wood, bought during one of the many supply trips the old men made periodically.

Wooden weapons didn't last long, out on the Grand Line. On a sea where even solid steel could be cut apart like fresh butter against the wrong opponent, wood was too fragile to be of use. Just look at Zoro and Luffy and Sanji, shattering and cleaving swords and steel and cannonballs left and right and all over the place.

~~(Not that it helped against Kuma. But then again, she was even more useless.)~~

The climatact was more useful to Nami, objectively speaking. Three separate pieces for easy carrying, sturdy enough metal to withstand a sword strike, embedded sky dials for manipulating the weather. Usopp had made sure its width fit the ring on her ax head when he made it as according to her request.

So. Strictly speaking.

There was no reason to carve a new pole.

Nami absently rubbed her thumb against the rough surface of the stave.

“...Just out of habit, I guess.”

* * *

Bellemere, unlike what people would assume at first glance, was a person of routine. Nami knew it by heart, even now, years after her death.

Bellemere woke up with the sun, went out to the field to check on the tangerine trees and fix whatever problem had occurred during the night, and came back in time to wake Nojiko and Nami up. The three of them would then make breakfast together and afterwards, Bellemere lead the two children through a series of stretches outside in the cool morning air. Most of the day was spent tending to the tangerine farm. Work ended at dinner time, late in the evening, which was the part of day Nami liked best.

Not because farm work was finished, although that was part of it.

In the evenings, before bedtime, Bellemere would take a piece of wood and carve it into whatever Nami and Nojiko wanted. Little wooden people that both of them quickly lost interest in, beads for Nojiko to weave, a new pen for Nami to practice drawing maps with, and so on.

The days Nami remembered best though, was when Bellemere made them their first hatchets.

“Like this, Nojiko, Nami,” Bellemere smoothed the short round stave in her hands in long, steady strokes. The sound of metal scraping against rough wood was loud in the small room as Nojiko and Nami watched her work with wide eyes. “When you make a handle for an ax, you have to make sure it's balanced or else it won't swing right when finished. Scrape it down evenly.”

“When that's done,” Bellemere shifted her grip towards the end of the stave, “you have to make sure the end fits the ax head. Carve it to match. This is the most important part, so you have to be patient. It has to fit the head exactly.” She showed the two girls the ax ring and the end of the stave and let them compare the two. “And when that's done, you spilt the end apart. Just a little.”

Nami scrunched up her nose in confusion. “Why would you spilt it apart? Won't it be wrong?”

Bellemere grinned at her. “Why do you think that?”

“Isn't it too loose for the ring if you spilt it, Bellemere-san?” asked Nojiko. She cocked her head to the side and squinted at the hatchet like she could figure out its secrets if she stared hard enough.

“Bingo.” Bellemere nodded her head at Nojiko's question.

“Bingo?” Nami parroted back at her. The two girls stared at her with identical looks of confusion on their faces and Bellemere burst out laughing, fondness coloring the loud, bright sound warmly.

“It's to make sure the handle fits nice and tight against the ring after you put it in,” she explained as she reached out and ruffled their hair with dusty fingers, ignoring their squeals. “When you fit the head on, you drive in wedges into the spilt until it's right tight.”

“It takes a long time to make, but when it‘s done,” Bellemere smiled, wide and content, “it's an ax just for you.”

* * *

“Meat...”

Nami stopped moving in surprise and turned around to look at Luffy. It had only been a few days since she had agreed to travel with this pirate crew(of two), but it was plenty of time for her to discretely observe and figure out their habits.

Unlike Roronoa and her, Luffy ignored any concept of night and day and slept when and wherever he wanted. When he did sleep, it was impossible to wake him until he woke up on his own a few hours later. Maddening, but one of the few predictable behavioural patterns Luffy had.

Luffy turned his head and snuffled into Roronoa's thigh.

“Beef..chicken.....croco..dile..” A wet spot grew slowly larger with drool on the swordsman's pant leg.

She looked up at the sound of Roronoa snorting. Grinning dark eyes met her own and Nami smirked back.

“Figures he would sleeptalk about meat.”

“Drooling on your thigh to boot.”

Roronoa barked out a laugh, an unexpectedly mirthful sound compared to the bloody rumors he carried around like miasma cloud. “The things I endure for my captain.”

Unexpected laughter bubbled up inside her. She caught on it her tongue and swallowed it back down. Let the quiet settle around them, around her like a warm blanket in autumn. Nami laid her head down on top of her arms and listened to Luffy’s mumbles about food, the gentle slapping of waves against the sides of their connected boats in the background. She closed her eyes. Pretended not to feel Roronoa’s gaze on her.

“You don’t move like a staff wielder.”

...Not that it worked.

Nami breathed out an inaudible sigh. But her tone was careless when she replied, “Of course not, I’m a thief.”

“You don’t move like a thief either.”

“And I suppose you know a lot about that?” She opened her eyes and curled her lips into a mocking smile, a silent warning.

As expected, the bastard didn’t even bat an eye.

_(“Shahahaha! You thought something like this could cut me, Nami?” Blue lips stretch wide over large serrated teeth in a mockery of a smile. Laughter erupts from all around her, joining in with one already ringing in her ears._

_She trembles in fright, in frustration, in furious, desperate rage. The stinging pain of her bleeding elbows do not register, nor do the hot wet trails left on her cheeks by her tears._

_Not when her hatchet, Bellemere’s last precious gift, is in that monster’s hands.)_

Roronoa stared at her with queer solemnity, and Nami smiled back, cold and distant. 

_(The smooth wooden handle looks tiny compared to the webbed hands that hold it. The ax head is the size of his palm._

_“I’m disappointed, Nami. Did you already give up on killing me? Or is this your way of saying that you’ve finally accepted your place in my crew?”_

_A web of thin cracks slowly appears on thin metal. Slender woods groans, unheard beneath loud, loud laughter and Nami chokes on the weight of that sound, words locked in her throat.)_

"Stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, pirate. Besides."

_(No. Nononono. Please, pleas-_

_Sturdy, fragile wood and metal shatters. )_

"It doesn't matter anymore."

* * *

Cocoyashi was awash in festive joy, colors and sounds growing brighter as the night grows deeper. But it was quiet and dark here, in her childhood home. 

Nami took in the familiar interior, everything looking strangely different in the starlight streaming in through the single window. 

"Thought you'd be here." 

She turned around. Nojiko tossed a key over to Nami and indicated to something behind her. "Go look in that box. You'll like it." 

The box her sister pointed to was half-hidden behind several crates. It was old but obviously well-cared for, evident in the way the old wood shone in the weak light and how both the lock and key were free of any rust. She crouched down, pushed in and turned the key, opened the lid and-

Oh.

Silver starlight reflected off sharp metal and Nami slowly breathed out.

Bellemere had never cared for fanciness. If it fit, it fit and that showed in her everyday habits and possessions.

In her ax.

“Use it well,” said Nojiko from behind her. There’s a smile in her voice. “She would’ve given it to you. You always liked swinging it around.”

* * *

“An ax user, huh?” Zoro grinned at her. Blood dripped off his chin and bodies of bounty hunters laid groaning in various states of injury around him.

Nami swung her halberd in a single sweep, adding two more to the pile at Zoro’s feet. She blew a strand of hair out of her face and grinned back at him. “Yep. Got it in one.”

* * *

Vivi was a princess. It showed in her impeccable table manners and constant polite speech. Vivi is a pirate. It showed in her knowledge of sailing, her willingness to take up arms if necessary during skirmishes. Vivi is kind. It showed in her eyes and smile, her unwavering belief in peace.

Vivi is nakama. Nami knew this because of weeks spent together on Merry, by how she naturally looked for Vivi when they're together,

Vivi is desperate. Nami knew. It showed in the lines of her face and tone of voice, in the small aborted motions of her hands. Nami knew desperation, knew bone-deep the kind of despair that took hold and drowned a person because of that unending desperation.

Vivi is kind and desperate and nakama and Nami stared down Miss Doublefinger and thought she might finally know what Luffy and the rest of her crew felt when they saw Arlong and the rest of the fishmen.

It’s been years since she properly swung an ax, only been weeks since she reminded her body of the exercises Bellemere taught to her and Nojiko when they were kids. A thief had no use for a large, bulky weapon and Nami had been nothing but a thief for a long long time. Miss Doublefinger was Mr. 1’s partner, just below Crocodile and Miss Sunday, as strong as that position implies in an organization like this. But right now, Alabasta on the cusp of war and her precious, precious nakama screaming her heart out to her deaf, hurting people, Nami did not care.

None of that mattered.

Miss Doublefinger’s arms grew grotesquely large, muscles and veins bulging under spiked covered skin. Every swing blocked or dodged, spikes scraping across her cheek and arms, a spike stabbed into her calf, slowly but steadily, Nami lost ground.

“Why don’t you just give up?” Miss Doublefinger snarled at her, “You can’t beat me, hurry up and let me kill you!” Blue hair sharpened into countless gigantic spikes before lowering and charging straight at her.

Nami breathed in and stood her ground, halberd held straight in front of her. Her stabbed leg shook and refused to move and Nami forced it steady anyway. Breathe out and-

"Urk!" 

"What! You little-!"

Nami clenched her teeth together and locked down the scream that threatened to escape. She refused to give her opponent the satisfaction.

Blood slipped down from her right arm onto Miss Doublefinger’s weaponized head. She forced her fingers together into fist and grabbed hold of a spike. Her muscles shrieked in pain, stabbed through in multiple places and torn apart.

Nami raised her ax with her left hand and swung down.

Clang!

“Do you have any idea that girl is going through? What she’s feeling?”

Clang!

“Give up?”

Clang!

Miss Doublefinger screamed and slammed her spiked arms into Nami, stabbing and striking at the arm trapping her in place. Blood flew and chunks of skin tore off, revealing red muscle and white bone.

Nami bared her teeth and swung her ax through it all. “An arm or leg, two or three or four, I’d gladly give it all up for her!”

CLANG!

Deadly blue spikes shattered under unyielding force and her ax cleaved through unprotected flesh, blood splattering everywhere. Miss Doublefinger collapsed.

Nami gritted her teeth and yanked her arm out. She almost blacked out from the pain and white spots danced in front of her eyes.

But she stood up and wrapped her left arm with the remains of the scarf Sanji bought her and limped on the plaza, using her halberd as a makeshift walking stick.

* * *

_(It was hot. Alabasta was hot though. Too hot to attempt to open her eyes. Even hotter with Chopper pressed up against her, furry and warm as he was. In fact, he suffered from the heat the most out of all of them. Why was he sticking so close to her?_

_“..Chopper, ‘s too hot, move over...”_

_“Na, mi.”_

_Oh no, why was he crying? Chopper was sensitive despite his rough mouth and was still so nervous about his place among them. But her tone wasn’t that harsh... Why?.._

_“I, I should’ve treated you ri, right away instead of falling asleep then.”_

_It was hard to focus on his voice, garbled with tears and her head feeling like it was filled with sodden cotton._

_“Nami, I’m so-, sorry, I had to amputate your arm before the infection worsened and spread, Nami I’m so-)_

“-sorry.”

She turned her head. Vivi stood behind her, dressed in white and gold princess garb, almost ghostly in moonlight despite her tanned skin.

Nami smiled at her, chin tucked on top of her hand and cool night air blowing softly against her. Vivi stepped closer. Her hand hovered over the flapping sleeve on Nami’s right side, empty where there should’ve been an arm.

“I’m sorry,” Vivi repeated. Nami eyed her critically before clicking her tongue. “You look Chopper right now. Come on, you don’t apologize to nakama. What do you say instead?”

She knocked her head against Vivi’s.

Vivi laughed, choked and watery, and rubbed the forming red spot on her forehead.

“Thank y-”

_(“-ou,” Nami whispered. Her voice refused to listen to her. Chopper sniffled and leaned closer, careful not to touch the mass of bandages that made up her right shoulder. “You saved the rest of me, Chopper. Thanks.”_

_The tiny reindeer started to bawl into her face.)_

* * *

A few days after they set sail from Alabasta and grudgingly welcomed Miss All-Sunday into the crew, Usopp called Nami into the boys’ room.

“Here.” She stared at the wooden arm he thrust into her hand. Usopp rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and continued to talk without meeting her eyes. “I’m not a professional or anything but that’ll let you do basic things like eat or, or something and Chopper looked it over and promised it wouldn’t chafe and make you bleed and itsnotreallygoodsorr-GUGHG!”

Usopp choked, breath squeezed out of him. Nami hugged him as tight as she could with one arm and buried her face into his shoulder. “Thanks, Usopp.”

He patted her on the back desperately. “I’,m- uurk! Glad you’re happy but, ahg, Nami Ican’tbreathe-”

Nami threw her head back and laughed.

* * *

“You’re relying on that staff too much.”

Nami scowled and threw the 500kg dumbbell at Zoro with her feet. The green-haired musclehead scoffed at her, easily balancing it on the soles of his feet and finished his handstand push up before throwing back at her.

She grimaced and caught with her feet and finished her own upside down push up.

“It has a name you know. Climatact. 2089. Very useful as well. Usopp practically ground his soul and precious dials into it.”

“It’s a crutch. 2090.”

“Well, sorry for not being a monster like you or Luffy, 2091, or Sanji!”

Zoro grunted as Nami practically slammed the dumbbell onto his feet. He bent his thumbs and watched as she did the same with her sole arm before throwing the massive weight to her.

“It’s a crutch,” he repeated. “2092.”

Nami bit back an irritated sigh, knowing that Zoro was only speaking as he saw. What he was saying was the truth after all.

The prosthetic arm was fine for everyday activities but it was close to useless when fighting or wielding her halberd.

Nami did her best to get back into shape but with one arm unable to output any real force, it was impossible to continue as she had done before Alabasta.

As a temporary solution, she had requested Usopp to make a weapon to suit her abilities for a reasonable fee(she had no intention of paying). The lying liar had given her the climatact and showed her its party techniques(She had hit him for including useless things and Luffy for good measure when he laughed at the flower bouquet bursting out. Sanji had swooned when she’d given him the bouquet to put away.) and the proper attacks.

Luffy, who was immune to electricity, and Robin, who had wisely stayed out of range, were the only two left standing besides Nami herself.

“...I know.”

Her halberd felt clumsy and slow in her hand. Zoro knocked her to the floor far more easily than he had at the start of their journey during their spars. Nami could feel how ridiculous her attacks were when she swung and that knowledge... hurt more than she thought it would.

It wasn’t regret, never regret.

But...

Nami bit her lip until she tasted blood. She would get stronger. The day her ax would become as natural as a second limb again would come sooner than later and the climatact would help.

It had to.

_(Kalifa was the most annoying bitch Nami had the displeasure to ever meet._

_“Hmm. And here I heard the strawhats had a fairly strong fighter as a navigator. I guess not.”_

_Nami glared at the CP9 agent, furious but helpless to stop Kalifa from ripping off her prosthetic and stomping it into pieces. Her soap-covered body refused move and stayed slippery and limp._

_“Where’s your arm and ax, pirate?”_

_Striking her with lightning and thunder had never been so satisfying but Kalifa’s words echoed in Nami’s head for a long time afterwards.)_

~

The first thing Franky did after coming aboard was to grab Nami, Chopper and Usopp and drag them into his workshop.

“Alright, show me that arm of yours, sister. Usopp-bro did a good job but you’re talking to a cyborg here.” Franky rubbed his hands together and held them out expectantly. Nami shrugged off her coat and unlatched the prosthetic arm.

Usopp and Franky hemmed and hawed over it while Chopper checked over her shoulder for any anomalies.

“Well?” Nami asked. Franky looked at her exposed shoulder, Usopp, Chopper, and Nami again before finally setting the wooden arm aside. He smoothed back his bright blue hair and threw her a wink and a thumbs up.

“Just leave it us, Nami-sis! You'll have a SUPER arm in no time!”

* * *

There was a twitching zombie leopard man embedded in the ceiling.

Nami absently lowered her mechanical arm and studied the room she woke in. Kidnapping, no matter which way she looked at it. She stretched, ripped the white dress she was wearing into a more comfortable shape, and set out to find her crew.

They were no doubt lost without her.

* * *

~~3D~~ 2Y.

Nami pressed the newspaper to her face and breathed in. The musky scent of ink and paper filled her nostrils, not a hint of the blood and pain evident in the picture of her captain to be found.

Understood, Captain.

Be prepared for the New World. Know the climate, the weather, the sea. Grow stronger, smarter.

For Luffy. For her crew.

Nami smiled. So much to do. So little ~~_much_~~ time.

* * *

“Haredas. Is there an engineer who knows how to handle prosthetic here?”

The group of stooped old men looked up at Nami’s approach, rightfully wary and nervous after her many and numerous attempts at chaos. Haredas smiled at her, uncaring of his fellow scientists tugging furiously at his sleeve. “Of course there is. Two even. Right here.”

He pointed to two old men on his left and far right respectively as he spoke. “Lorealis. And Darueth.”

The two old men froze like mice in front of a hungry cat. Nami smiled her sweetest smile.

“I’m in a little trouble and have request to make. Surely two gentlemen like you two will surely help out a _poor young lady_ in need, right?” Nami purred out, swiftly walking forward and grabbing their wrists.

“Who’s a poor young lady?!”

“There’s no gentlemen like us anymore, but you, missy-!”

Nami let her eyes grow large and teary.

“You, you-”

A single, clear droplet threatened to roll down her cheek.

“Alright, alright!”

“Yay! Thanks!”

“You little liar!”

Haredas waved his hands calmingly. “Now now, what do you need Missy? Is your arm acting up?”

Nami lightly touched her prosthetic arm and shook her head. She held out the separated pieces of the climatact out. “I want to incorporate the components of this and Weatheria’s technology into my arm.”

The old men grew quiet. Haredas widened his eyes. “But what about your ax, missy?”

Nami thought of the unfinished wooden stave stashed in her room, the swooping wind blowing her hair whenever she swung her halberd, the way Bellemere’s ax sometimes seemed to glow black when she whirled it around.

“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”

* * *

Darueth shuffled back and forth nervously. “Missy, are you sure about this? Really, really sure?”

Lorealis nodded his head rapidly in agreement. “Quite so, missy. That arm of yours is a work of art. Do you really want us to touch it?”

“Shouldn’t you ask that before you inject morphine into me?” Nami scowled and opened her mouth to continue-

Haredas shoved his face in front of her and asked, “Awake now, missy?”

Nami blinked groggily and shoved him off her bed.

* * *

Shirahoshi cried and Hordy laughed cruelly, sickening familiar to Arlong, and Luffy walked forward, 50000 fishmen dropping to the ground, foaming at the mouth to his feet. Nami laughed in delight and felt her crewmates do the same around her.

“Luffy! You should’ve left more than just half for me,” said Zoro, ever the bloodthirsty bastard. Nami propped an arm against his shoulder and ignored Sanji erupting behind her.

“Poor Zoro. But that’s my half, not yours.” She grinned at his returning scowl, finally feeling home after 2 years, surrounded by thousands of enemies and her crew.

“Wanna bet?”

“I devote my count to you, Nami-swan~♡”

“You won’t even make it into the double digits, Nosebleed Cook!”

“What’d you just call me, you marimo!?”

“Treinta Fleur!”

All three of them whipped their heads around to look at Robin in surprise. The woman in question merely smiled at them and said, “Fufufu, a headstart for me.”

“No fair, Robin!” Nami shouted and sprinted past Zoro and Sanji. Alarmed shouts from the fishmen grew louder and several charged at her with raised weapons.

Nami grinned.

Silver steel gleamed in the sun. Warm and cool air rushed out from her right arm and static electricity sparked. She slammed the first fishmen into the ground and used his fainted body to jump up.

“Thunder Tempo – Thor’s Hammer!”

Bellemere’s ax sung with thunder and Nami swung it straight towards the huddle of fishmen beneath her. Lightning crashed down and dozens of bodies collapsed, smoking.

She lightly landed on the ground and Zoro rushed past her, sword in his mouth and each hand.

“Nice.”

Nami raised her halberd with both arms, sparking metal and strong flesh, and chased after him, the rest of her crew right on her footsteps.

She laughed.

“I know!”

**Author's Note:**

> For Ryorsaem, whose prompt was 'original nami with axe and prosthetic'
> 
> I originally had a lot more planned out but alas, I lack the strength to write long shots... Still, this was a really fun work to write! I hope you liked it.


End file.
